


5 ways to say I love you

by gwendee



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Family Bonding, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, High School, It's Ikeda guys, Light Angst, Middle School, Post-Canon, but like, referenced canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-15 21:37:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18677827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwendee/pseuds/gwendee
Summary: Five conversations, and the meaning of family.Gakushuu doesn’t even need to think. “I’m an Asano,” he says, “and if the world can’t handle that, then that’s just too fucking bad.”





	5 ways to say I love you

**5 ways to say I love you**

 

 

5.

 

“Did that hurt?”

Gakushuu looks up. Gakuhou is watching him with a mostly blank expression but there is a little furrow of his eyebrows and the slight downturned quirk of his lips that betrays his worry. Gakushuu snorts before he can stop himself, turning his attention back to the mirror.

“What do you think?” Gakushuu says dryly. He barely flinches when he drips the antiseptic over the wound, and dabs it dry. “I flew across the classroom like a rag doll.”

In the reflection, Gakuhou actually winces a little. He purses his lips like he wants to say something but then thinks better of it and walks off. Gakushuu watches him go back up the stairs, then presses a clean bandage to his face.

 

\--

 

4.

 

“You’re insane.”

Gakuhou scowls at his son. Gakushuu crosses his arms and hisses, “I can’t believe I will have to clean up your mess.”

“You have your own problems to worry about, do you not?” Gakuhou says coldly, “I can handle this myself.”

“One of these days you’re going to realize that you can’t solve everything by your goddamn self,” Gakushuu tells him, “then you’ll be grovelling at my feet, begging for me to save you.”

The moment he steps out into the flashing lights his best public smile is on his face, he sweeps past the press with a grin and several “no comments” and nods as he catches Ren’s eye amongst the crowd. When 3-E emerges from the large double doors of the school hall Gakushuu drops his smile and immediately throws on his most menacing look, and a few reporters take several cautionary steps back.

It’s the least Gakushuu could do for them, after all. Out of courtesy he and the four are allowed to follow them all the way to their pick-up point, the parking lot cordoned off by the military. It’s but a brief respite from the sharks of the press, and Gakushuu only allows a minute to watch the bus drive off before he straightens his tie and jumps back into the fray.   

He doesn’t quite hate his father enough to leave him at the mercy of international media especially with the spears aimed at him, even if that asshole is being stubbornly adamant about it all.

 

\--

 

3.

 

“You shouldn’t have been pulled into this.”

Gakushuu blinks bearily. He stares at his father, who’s across him on the dining table and looking worse for wear, hair uncombed with prevalent circles under his eyes. Gakushuu’s not about to call him out on it; he’s not exactly in top shape either.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you gave the monstrous world-destroying supercreature a teaching job and put the weight of the world on the shoulders of a class of fifteen-year-olds.”

Gakuhou frowns. “You know I had no choice-”

“I know,” Gakushuu interrupts, “that’s the main argument here, right? You didn’t have a choice, the world was going to die anyways. It wasn’t your decision, it was the collective agreement of a hundred or so international governments _and_ the demand of said supercreature.”

Gakuhou doesn’t seem like he’d contribute more about the subject, so Gakushuu goes back to his reading. The USA Secretary of State just released a statement criticizing Gakuhou’s decision and several organizations are backing him but Gakushuu has the informal accounts of the Secretary pushing for the principal to acquiesce Koro-sensei’s demands, that fucking hypocrite. He wonders if he could cocere the UN to release the statements of the leaders present at the first meeting regarding Koro-sensei; as far as most nations were concerned they just wanted Koro-sensei to be kept in check and an easy scapegoat to push the blame on if things went south, but fuck them.

“You have my approval if you decide to change your last name,” Gakuhou says.

Gakushuu pauses and squints at his father. “What are you going on about now? Are you delusional, old man? Why would I change my last name?”

“You could revert to your mother’s maiden name,” Gakuhou says. He fails to elaborate but Gakushuu gets the picture; the Asano name isn’t in the best place right now and while Gakushuu himself hasn’t been involved in any international secrets, the association to his father’s name alone was already impairing Gakushuu’s future prospects. Five of the educational institutions have already rescinded their offers of a seat in their school as of the start of the media shitstorm when he officially graduated last week, and the press was calling him and his father the “devil duo”.

Gakushuu doesn’t even need to think. “I’m an Asano,” he says, “and if the world can’t handle that, then that’s just too fucking bad.”

 

\--

 

2.

 

“I made soup.”

“Did you?” Gakuhou says. He sneezes twice and wraps his duvet tighter around him.

“Yeah, but you were asleep so I let it chill. If you are hungry I can heat it up again.” Gakushuu leans against the doorway and tilts his head. In bed, Gakuhou sniffles and grabs a piece of tissue from the bedside cabinet.

“What kind of soup is it?” He asks. Gakuhou throws the tissue, but he must be really ill if his aim is off by that much. Gakushuu quickly steps forward and kicks the wastepaper basket an inch to the left so it catches the projectile.

“Chicken.”

Gakuhou gives his son a strange look. Then, “where is Tamiko?”

“God, you’re really sick,” Gakushuu mutters, “she’s on vacation this week, in Italy with her daughters.”

Gakuhou blinks like he’s confused. His face caught off-guard is kind of funny, Gakushuu thinks. “Then who cooked the meals this week?”

“I did,” Gakushuu huffs, affronted. “Have your head in the clouds much? Did your cold give you brain damage?”

“I couldn’t tell the difference,” Gakuhou remarks quietly. Gakushuu stills and he shrugs a little awkwardly.

“Well, she taught me to cook,” Gakushuu says. His father watches him for a moment longer but then the silence becomes uncomfortable, so Gakushuu pushes himself off the door frame and says, “get your ass out of bed and get downstairs. I’m not going to bring you your meals in bed, you ungrateful old man.”

 

\--

 

1.

 

“His name was Ikeda.”

“I know who he is,” Gakushuu says.

Gakuhou purses his lips. “He was,” he says, “one of my three students from my first graduating batch. He played basketball and loved to make people laugh and constantly tried to skip class. I wanted him to grow up into a good person, and I had been so proud.”

“You loved him,” Gakushuu says.

Gakuhou sighs. “I did.”

There’s a pause. Gakushuu closes his eyes and takes in a shuddering breath, “you know, for a very long time, I hated him.” He ignores Gakuhou’s sharp inhale and continues, “I’d spent a long time, at first, wondering who was your other son that you were so proud of all the time. I thought that once I met him, he will become the brother I never had.”

“Gakushuu-”

“I hated him,” Gakushuu says, “I hated him, because when he left, he left me nothing. I never met him but I’ve heard so much about him that I thought he was practically family and he left me nothing, and he had the fucking audacity to take my dad away from me.”

Gakuhou stays silent.

“I didn’t… I didn’t even like basketball, but I thought if there was any way to get you smiling again it was to be as good, as good, no, better than he was. That maybe you’d play with me instead of holding and staring this stupid thing in your room all day.”

“I’m sorry,” Gakuhou says.

Gakushuu doesn’t look at him, he holds his head high and wipes his face with the back of his hand, and tosses the basketball he had never been allowed to touch. It sails in a graceful arc and lands through the hoop. “Happy birthday, big brother.”

 

\--

 

 

 

 

 

0.

 

Gakushuu doesn’t open his eyes but he hears the patio door slide open and close, and then his father’s footsteps come from behind him. Gakuhou settles on the other end of the bench.

Gakushuu opens his eyes. It’s still dark out, early morning sky a deep blue; there’s the soft chirping of crickets and rustling of leaves in the breeze. It’s chilly out and Gakushuu involuntarily shivers.

He feels his father’s gaze slide towards him. Gakushuu ignores it.

They sit in silence for a while, staring at the still scenery of their backyard, until the first light peeks out between the trees. They live in the heart of the city and the horizon isn’t visible but the sky still glows amber.

Gakushuu sighs. Another draft blows, and he shivers again. This time Gakuhou shifts and extends a hand out almost hesitantly. Gakushuu doesn’t know why, but he takes the invitation, and slides closer. He rests his cheek against the fabric on his father’s chest and feels an arm tighten around his shoulders, takes in a shuddering breath and blinks back wetness in his eyes,

 

and watches the sun melt and dip the world into gold.


End file.
